Conquista News

I arrived in Germany from the UK yesterday morning, looking forward to the start of another epic Tour de France. After spending the day running around between various team hotels, the ASO 'permanence' at the exhibition space to the north of the city to collect my official accreditation, and then the Team Presentation in Bergplatz towards the centre, it was a relief to finally sit down at around 9pm and finally get my first taste of German bier this trip.

Words: Tom Owen

Given the proliferation of cycling events that are out there and vying for your entry fee at this stage of the season, it takes something a little bit special to make us sit up and take notice here at Conquista.

Well, the West Africa Cycle Challenge is certainly different.

Starting in Bo in south-eastern Sierra Leone – yes, that Sierra Leone – the route head south through the country towards the Atlantic coast, crossing the border with Liberia, before finish 300km later in the city of Robertsport.

This year’s British National Cyclo-Cross Championships took place last weekend in Bradford.

In the Elite Men’s race Ian Field left the field in his wake on the opening circuit, and never looked back as he rode serenely to his fifth national title. The most compelling action could be found at the other end of the podium, where Paul Oldham had to put in a series of aggressive attacks before finally dropping Grant Ferguson with three laps remaining.

The most emotional victory of the competition came in the Elite Women’s race, where reigning champion Nikki Brammeier came back from...

The fifth round of this season’s UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup took place on the hilly and extremely muddy course at Namur on 18th December.

The men’s elite race was won by Mathieu van der Poel, giving him seven World Cup victories from his last seven starts, beginning with the Namur event of 2015.

However, due to injury, he missed the first two races of this season, both of which were won by reigning UCI World Champion Wout van Aert. Finishing runner-up to van der Poel in the three subsequent races meant van Aert remained at the top of the overall standings...